Jerice Hunter, Mother Suspected in Disappearance of 5-Year-Old Jhessye Shockley, Released From Jail

Jerice Hunter, the mother of missing 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley -- who is suspected in the girl's disappearance -- has been released from jail.

Hunter, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office says, was released about 10:40 a.m today.

Jerry Cobb, spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, tells New Times Hunter was released because no charges against her were formally filed within 48 hours of her arrest last week. Because charges weren't filed within 48 hours, authorities could not legally hold Hunter.

Cobb says that doesn't mean charges won't be filed in the future -- he says the MCAO is awaiting results from an additional investigation into Hunter by the Glendale Police Department before making any charging decisions. He says his office is working closely with Glendale cops, who suspect Shockley is likely dead and plan to search for her remains in a city landfill in coming weeks.

Hunter was arrested last week and booked into jail on child abuse charges "directly related" to Shockley's October 11 disappearance.

According to court records obtained by New Times, two of Jhessye's siblings, who are now in foster care, told their foster parents about some of the abuse Shockley received at the hands of her mother, who spent four years in a California prison for child abuse -- and scolded us last month for asking whether she hurt her daughter .

Jhessye's 13-year-old sister told her foster parents that several weeks before Shockley was reported missing, Hunter came home and found her watching TV with a boy from the neighborhood. The girl told her foster parents -- and later police -- that Hunter called Jhessye a "ho" and dragged her into a bedroom where the sister could hear Jhessye screaming and crying.

Following the apparent beating, Hunter kept Shockley in a closet. Her sister told police she had to bring the 5-year-old water when Hunter was out so she wouldn't become dehydrated. She would let the her out when Hunter was gone, but quickly put Jhessye back when Hunter got home to keep her from getting in trouble.

The sister also told investigators that she saw bruises and cuts on Shockley's face and body while she was kept in the closet, and that her eyes were black and only slightly open.

The 13-year-old also told police that Shockley's hair had been pulled out and that she didn't look alive. She describes her as looking like a "zombie" and that the closet she was kept in smelled like "dead people" and was like a "grave."

All of the alleged abuse happened weeks before Hunter called police on October 11. The last time anyone saw Jhessye alive was September 22, which was the last time records show her attending school. Her sisters say they never saw Jhessye the day her mother reported her missing, when Hunter told police the older siblings were watching the girl as she ran errands.

On October 9, Hunter bought a bottle of bleach at a Walgreens. She then cleaned the entire apartment and scrubbed her shoes that were in the closet with Jhessye with bleach, the sister told police.

Court records also show that Hunter was suspected of child abuse in April, and a report was filed. It's unclear whether Child Protective Services was alerted about the reported abuse.

Hunter has made sobbing attempts to declare her innocence since the day she reported her daughter missing more than two weeks after she was last seen alive. She's blamed everyone from the media to the Glendale Police Department for not locating her daughter. When we spoke to her, Hunter went ballistic when we suggested that she hurt her daughter.

"I really think they should take the focus off of me and quit asking people -- wasting time -- if I did something to my daughter," Hunter told us last month. "They should quit holding my babies hostage and trying to get them to say something [about what happened to Jahessye]. [Authorities are] telling me 'your kids aren't saying anything.' It's been 13 days. What do they expect my babies to say that they haven't already said? [CPS] don't wanna hear 'we love our mama, we wanna go home we want our mommy' -- they don't wanna hear that. They won't let me see them because

they don't want them running into my arms. They don't wanna hear them scream 'mommy.'"